Alexandria schools - why so bad?!

[Anonymous]

The bike lobby and uber cyclists in Alexandria = the new anti-vaccers. They are single minded, laser focused on their opinion and no data or actual facts matter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The bike lobby and uber cyclists in Alexandria = the new anti-vaccers. They are single minded, laser focused on their opinion and no data or actual facts matter.

+1 That is an apt comparison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Calm down" Really? Since the post you're responding to is perfectly calm and well-reasoned it is difficult to give your post any merit. Sheesh. I'm with the other poster. It is hard to respect someone who is hyperbolic even in a discussion.

That was in response to "shame on cyclist mom for telling 14 year olds to run red lights" (though i think "you're advocating kids breaking the law" and "shame on you" may have been different posters). Those felt like kind of over the top reactions to a tongue in cheek post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Calm down" Really? Since the post you're responding to is perfectly calm and well-reasoned it is difficult to give your post any merit. Sheesh. I'm with the other poster. It is hard to respect someone who is hyperbolic even in a discussion.

That was in response to "shame on cyclist mom for telling 14 year olds to run red lights" (though i think "you're advocating kids breaking the law" and "shame on you" may have been different posters). Those felt like kind of over the top reactions to a tongue in cheek post.

If you meant your post to be "tongue in cheek" then I have to tell you that it was a miserable fail. I also perceived cyclist mom's post as a taunt about bicyclists not needing to follow the road laws.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

It's almost as if driving those streets multiple times per day everyday for the last 6 years can give me a good idea of what the changes have and haven't done to the traffic flow. What they haven't done is created the OMG MASS GRIDLOCK that the SUVS-UBER-ALLES crowd claimed, nor has it even really had a noticeable impact on travel times for anyone who isn't flying or impatient as all get-out.

My neighbors and I would be happy to begin keeping logs and posting them. The road redesign has had an appreciable negative impact on our lives. 3 weeks ago it took me 47 minutes to go from TC to the bottom of Prince Street. I was running a car pool. We were using Waze. I should be able to get a bunch of 14 year-olds, loaded with gear, a distance of less than 2 miles in less than 47 minutes at about 4 in the afternoon. Just because YOU have nothing better to do PP doesn't mean the same holds true for the rest of us.

I used to drive up King from Callahan to Quaker every morning rush, before and after the changes, and a the reverse in evening rush a couple times per week. Aside from a couple-week readjustment period to get used to the new traffic pattern, it made no appreciable difference in drive time for me. 47 minutes from TC to the riverfront on King at rush hour seems fairly normal to me, pre- and post-road changes, but perhaps we should ask council to install a Very Important Alexandrian lane just for you and your neighbors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Way to make assumptions PP. I am glad to know that you perceive my Honda CRV as large and expensive! Also your husband isn't alleviating any congestion if he is obeying the laws, which is the whole point of my first post.

Not PP (and not a cyclist) but you guys make no sense. Bikes are supposed to stay against the curb (except in certain circumstances, like turning) so cars can overtake them. They don't occupy the whole lane of traffic the way a car does. You can have 4-5 bikes and 3 cars lined up at a light in the same space as the 3 cars will take. How does that not mean less congestion than if those 4-5 cyclists were all in cars?

In a traffic backup, the bikes are allowed to pass on the right up to the light. They don't have to sit at the end of the line of cars, further impeding traffic and taking as long as the cars to get anywhere. Also, I believe in most of Alexandria it's legal for bikes to ride on the sidewalks, so kids can do that too if there are sidewalks and they're not full of pedestrians.

Uh wrong. Traffic laws do not equate to what is convenient for you. Cyclists may take the lane. You may learn some patience as your pollution ruins the environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Way to make assumptions PP. I am glad to know that you perceive my Honda CRV as large and expensive! Also your husband isn't alleviating any congestion if he is obeying the laws, which is the whole point of my first post.

You think a 30 pound bike less than 6 feet from front to back isn’t alleviating congestion? I don’t think you know what congestion is. One car takes up the same amount of road space as several bikes.

[Anonymous]

Can we go back to the initial topic? What do you think of the current TAG program and the recent updates of the program in ACPS? How can we convince ACPS to go two or three high schools, given the continuous growth of the population?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Way to make assumptions PP. I am glad to know that you perceive my Honda CRV as large and expensive! Also your husband isn't alleviating any congestion if he is obeying the laws, which is the whole point of my first post.

Not PP (and not a cyclist) but you guys make no sense. Bikes are supposed to stay against the curb (except in certain circumstances, like turning) so cars can overtake them. They don't occupy the whole lane of traffic the way a car does. You can have 4-5 bikes and 3 cars lined up at a light in the same space as the 3 cars will take. How does that not mean less congestion than if those 4-5 cyclists were all in cars?

In a traffic backup, the bikes are allowed to pass on the right up to the light. They don't have to sit at the end of the line of cars, further impeding traffic and taking as long as the cars to get anywhere. Also, I believe in most of Alexandria it's legal for bikes to ride on the sidewalks, so kids can do that too if there are sidewalks and they're not full of pedestrians.

Uh wrong. Traffic laws do not equate to what is convenient for you. Cyclists may take the lane. You may learn some patience as your pollution ruins the environment.

Don't even bother. The hysteria has reached a fever pitch and turned a corner when bike advocates were compared to anti-vaccination advocates. As in most corners of society, people have abandoned reasoned and rational thinking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Way to make assumptions PP. I am glad to know that you perceive my Honda CRV as large and expensive! Also your husband isn't alleviating any congestion if he is obeying the laws, which is the whole point of my first post.

Not PP (and not a cyclist) but you guys make no sense. Bikes are supposed to stay against the curb (except in certain circumstances, like turning) so cars can overtake them. They don't occupy the whole lane of traffic the way a car does. You can have 4-5 bikes and 3 cars lined up at a light in the same space as the 3 cars will take. How does that not mean less congestion than if those 4-5 cyclists were all in cars?

In a traffic backup, the bikes are allowed to pass on the right up to the light. They don't have to sit at the end of the line of cars, further impeding traffic and taking as long as the cars to get anywhere. Also, I believe in most of Alexandria it's legal for bikes to ride on the sidewalks, so kids can do that too if there are sidewalks and they're not full of pedestrians.

Uh wrong. Traffic laws do not equate to what is convenient for you. Cyclists may take the lane. You may learn some patience as your pollution ruins the environment.

The law in Va is that cyclists when not keeping to the speed of traffic must go as far to the right as safely practible. When I am on a street with lanes wider than 13 feet I will stay to the right and allow cars to pass in lane. On standard width lanes, where there is no room to pass in lane, I will take the center of the lane, to force cars to change lanes to pass. If there are a lot of cars behind me, I will try to periodically swerve into the parking lane to allow them to pass ("lock and release") but only if there places where I think I can do this safely - IE not so short that swerving back in will be a danger.

Of course when I ride in a bike lane there is room for cars to pass me.

I will filter to the right of stopped cars, but I do so cautiously, and attempt to do so politely - IE I usually do it to get to a right turn or to a bike lane, not to just pull in front of the stopped cars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can we go back to the initial topic? What do you think of the current TAG program and the recent updates of the program in ACPS? How can we convince ACPS to go two or three high schools, given the continuous growth of the population?

First eliminate all the racial and economic inequalities in society. Because until you do, the fear that even an equitable zoning arrangement between two high schools would not last, would be a big obstacle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It's almost as if driving those streets multiple times per day everyday for the last 6 years can give me a good idea of what the changes have and haven't done to the traffic flow. What they haven't done is created the OMG MASS GRIDLOCK that the SUVS-UBER-ALLES crowd claimed, nor has it even really had a noticeable impact on travel times for anyone who isn't flying or impatient as all get-out.

My neighbors and I would be happy to begin keeping logs and posting them. The road redesign has had an appreciable negative impact on our lives. 3 weeks ago it took me 47 minutes to go from TC to the bottom of Prince Street. I was running a car pool. We were using Waze. I should be able to get a bunch of 14 year-olds, loaded with gear, a distance of less than 2 miles in less than 47 minutes at about 4 in the afternoon. Just because YOU have nothing better to do PP doesn't mean the same holds true for the rest of us.

I used to drive up King from Callahan to Quaker every morning rush, before and after the changes, and a the reverse in evening rush a couple times per week. Aside from a couple-week readjustment period to get used to the new traffic pattern, it made no appreciable difference in drive time for me. 47 minutes from TC to the riverfront on King at rush hour seems fairly normal to me, pre- and post-road changes, but perhaps we should ask council to install a Very Important Alexandrian lane just for you and your neighbors.

Huh. We must have different ideas about what is a reasonable amount of time to go less than 3 miles. 47 minutes seems far too long for such a short distance. Alexandria needs to resolve its traffic problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can we go back to the initial topic? What do you think of the current TAG program and the recent updates of the program in ACPS? How can we convince ACPS to go two or three high schools, given the continuous growth of the population?

First eliminate all the racial and economic inequalities in society. Because until you do, the fear that even an equitable zoning arrangement between two high schools would not last, would be a big obstacle.

The first step may be impossible for us to achieve by ourselves. However, I do believe we should be able to establish a reasonable distribution of students across a variety of SES demographics and academic levels at 2 schools. It will take effort and we won't be able to have geographic zones for high school students but the school buildings (TC and MH or TC and FCH or TC and GW) are a walkable distance from each other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can we go back to the initial topic? What do you think of the current TAG program and the recent updates of the program in ACPS? How can we convince ACPS to go two or three high schools, given the continuous growth of the population?

First eliminate all the racial and economic inequalities in society. Because until you do, the fear that even an equitable zoning arrangement between two high schools would not last, would be a big obstacle.

The first step may be impossible for us to achieve by ourselves. However, I do believe we should be able to establish a reasonable distribution of students across a variety of SES demographics and academic levels at 2 schools. It will take effort and we won't be able to have geographic zones for high school students but the school buildings (TC and MH or TC and FCH or TC and GW) are a walkable distance from each other.

If we won't have geographic zones, not sure this is really better then 9th/10th at MH, 11th/12th at TC, and a bunch of satellite campuses. Except for the claim that getting to the satellite campuses will be some kind of traffic hell, which, without getting back to the threadjack, I don't believe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
The only portion of the route I took that had separate bike lanes was on King from TC to Janney's Lane. At 19-21 mph (the speed of traffic that day), traffic was definitely exceeding the speed of any potential biker in the separate bike lanes. After Janney's Lane, any bikers would need to merge into car lanes. .

No, there are bike lanes from Janneys to just before the Masonic Memorial, which could be faster if traffic is truely backed up there. And there are bike lanes on parts of Prince.


If you were going 19 to 21 MPH I am not sure how it would take 47 minutes to get to the waterfront from TCW.

Perhaps you were stuck in traffic on Prince and going more slowly?